Hoos Doing What
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
April 16, 2019
I keep a list of things I want in the notes app on my phone (right below my grocery list and right above late-night ruminations on the failures of my life). Some time ago, I would use this “want” note as a safety blanket or a calming mechanism, relishing in capitalistic promises of a shopping high in the face of immediate stressors like exams and papers. Such a dependency left me feeling pretty empty inside, so I’ve left this note in neglect, and try instead to
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
April 16, 2019
Posting a picture to Instagram is an event. The right filter must be found, a witty caption conjured. As likes accumulate, it is as if each screen tap is a reflection on you as a person. Not just the way you look, but also how you are perceived by others. Instagram squares have become extra limbs, a digital body we construct as a grid. This constant need to impress others online can be exhausting. The urge to exhale, to finally be ourselves in a
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
March 19, 2019
In a few short months, after years and years of stress, I will be graduating from college. I know, I’m not supposed to say ‘graduating’ because I go to UVA and we like to be elitist and use exclusionary language, and learning is supposed to be forever, but I’m sorry TJ. Once I get that diploma, this girl is done learning for a while.
I think I’ve earned a break after spending my whole life
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
March 19, 2019
The worst year of my life started when I walked on Grounds in the stiff August heat to move in to my first year dorm (sans AC). Red-faced, insecure, and awkward, I felt like an intruder on an intimate scene--as if I had just walked into someone else’s life and didn’t know how to leave.
I felt disconnected from my space, my room, the classrooms, the food I ate, the clothes hanging in my
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
October 31, 2018
I would say that when it comes to life advice, I am an expert in a few categories. I can recommend a really good fake tanner that isn’t streaky and lasts a long time. I can tell you where to get the best turkey and avocado sandwich in the United States (the Texas Wave at Hester’s Cafe in Corpus Christi, TX). I can also let you know that Birkenstocks don’t look good on anybody, and that is not an opinion, that is an
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
October 31, 2018
When Jensen Montambault was an undergraduate at UVA, she chose to divide her time between two disparate fields of study--Environmental Science and English Literature. She went on to obtain a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Ecology and has since written extensively about climate change and its impact on modern societies.
“I wanted to bring the poetry back in to science,” she said. Dr. Montambault was this year’
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
October 10, 2018
The Good Old song of Wa-hoo-wa
We’ll sing it o’er and o’er,
But never did they tell us of
The years of pain and gore.
We desecrated tombs and graves
To mock and thea’trize horr’r,
Taylor Lamb with Iris writer, Devin Garcia (left) and Iris Editor, Mary Esselman (right)
June 01, 2018
Each year in May, the Women’s Center gathers its graduating interns to thank them for the impact they’ve had on the UVA community. As they look back on their experiences working with the center, they offer some terrific insights that we at Iris want to share with you.
As a young Black woman, whose ancestors built this University, and who wouldn’t have even been able to attend 50 years ago, this place doesn’t always feel like home. Some students grow up dreaming about
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
May 08, 2018
The other day I heard a woman, a law school graduate with a really awesome job and absolutely no reason to think her life is boring whatsoever, describe college as “the best four years of your life.” This statement was distressing for multiple reasons. While I have loved most of my time at this school and hope to look back on these four years as an incredibly formative part of my life, dear God please help us all if this is really the best it’s going to be. I
March 01, 2018
“Boys don’t cry.”
“You’re acting like a girl.”
“Man up.”
These are the types of things that people tell boys frequently, and there are negative consequences. Crying is a